SmartTrack (Proposed)

[rbt]

So SmartTrack is basically a specialized GO route with TTC fares. No SmartTrack rolling stock or separate SmartTrack platforms.

More than half of that $3.2B cost is the Eglinton LRT extensions (East and West) isn't it?

I'm not at all certain why you would want different rolling stock or platforms. UPX needing different platforms from GO is ridiculous enough.

 

[aquateam]

From twitter:

Jennifer Pagliaro Verified account ‏@jpags 60m60 minutes ago
Tory: "SmartTrack is on track." Estimated $3.2B in capital dollars needed to build in addition to provincial plans completely unfunded

Jennifer Pagliaro Verified account ‏@jpags 1h1 hour ago
Tory here for provincial announcement on Dufferin bridge widening and Railpath extension. SmartTrack sign also here
https://twitter.com/jpags/status/764098934348406785

Oh look, Smarttrack now in Metrolinx branding! I wonder where that 3.2B is coming from - service cuts, perhaps?

AoD

I still cringe at the "SmartTrack" branding, I really hope the name goes away once Tory's tenure is over.

 

[salsa]

Jennifer Pagliaro Verified account ‏@jpags 1h1 hour ago
Tory here for provincial announcement on Dufferin bridge widening and Railpath extension. SmartTrack sign also here
https://twitter.com/jpags/status/764098934348406785

Ugh, how is SmartTrack still a thing?

 

[ShonTron]

Ugh, how is SmartTrack still a thing?

In John Tory's 2014 campaign colours too.

 

[steveintoronto]

http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2016/06/smarttrack-what-will-it-cost-build-operate-and-ride

 

[Palma]

More than half of that $3.2B cost is the Eglinton LRT extensions (East and West) isn't it?

.

No its not

 

[amnesiajune]

As of late-June, Metrolinx says the additional cost for SmartTrack (with 8 new stations) is between $1.1 and $1.7 billion, and the city says the LRT's cost is between $1.4 and $1.8 billion plus the cost of any grade separation. When you add the two together it is awfully close to $3.2B

http://www.metrolinx.com/en/docs/pd...0160628_BoardMtg_Appendix_3_SmartTrack_EN.pdf
http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2016/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-94621.pdf

 

[steveintoronto]

Palma: Even though rbt has misjudged, he can't be blamed. I went searching for 'the figure'...only to find the more I looked, the more vague any figure became. That's why I posted the http://urbantoronto.ca/news/2016/06/smarttrack-what-will-it-cost-build-operate-and-ride
link, as David Brake doesn't even exactly determine a figure, and he analyzes it in detail.

The point remains, there's so much smoke and mirrors no-one really knows. Baron von Munchausen never was good with bookkeeping. Does anyone have a "quoted" figure that at least we can hoist them on a petard for?

 

[ssiguy2]

Instead of trying to give everything a different name to ensure everyone is confused, why don't they just call it a subway?
It will be grade separated and relatively frequent so this is what the rest of the planet would call it.

Anyway, it's { and RERs success come down to just one thing..........the fares. if this is just another GO service than the ridership levels will be horrible. Just look at the UPX which is essentially RER running every 15 minutes all day each way and it serves 2 stops with GO fares and the ridership level is pathetic especially considering it connects the 2 biggest employment areas in the GTA.

I don't know why ML thinks RER will be any more a success than UPX isn't. ML keeps saying people will pay for the extra convenience and the UPX provides a clear that they won't. Just because the service isn't there doesn't mean everyone is all of a sudden going to get a raise so they can afford to take it.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

It will be grade separated and relatively frequent so this is what the rest of the planet would call it.

By no reasonable measure so are 15 minute frequencies "relatively frequent" compared to real Toronto subway headways.

 

[robmausser]

By no reasonable measure so are 15 minute frequencies "relatively frequent" compared to real Toronto subway headways.

Its 5-10 minute frequencies on-peak, 15 minute off peak.

 

[mdrejhon]

So SmartTrack is basically a specialized GO route with TTC fares. No SmartTrack rolling stock or separate SmartTrack platforms.

Well, it will be GO EMU rolling stock.

The Bilevels will keep rolling on LSE/LSW but the Bramalea-Unionville becomes an EMU using different GO rolling stock.

So the train will be distinct. But EMUs will also go on Barrie to Aurora. It may have been SmartTrack that convinced Metrolinx to assign EMUs first to this route, even if the EMUs will someday go onto the rest of the network, too.

Source: Metrolinx RER Business Case PDF

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Its 5-10 minute frequencies on-peak, 15 minute off peak.

The RER network east of Main Street was planned to have 9 min peak hour frequencies. North of Bloor, frequencies were 10 minutes peak hour frequencies. By no realsonsble measure are these subway frequencies; that's less than a fifth the service of our subways.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Some U.S. cities have subway headways of 20 minutes. Even New York City "normal" service is at 10 minutes.

 

[M II A II R II K]

It would work better if SmartTrack had some of its own tunnelling and dedicated trackage and rolling stock, kind of like the CrossRail approach to adding a new line that's more than just a figment of one persons imagination.